The People's Key
| The People's Key | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Bright Eyes | ||||
| Released |
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| Recorded | Omaha, Nebraska | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 46:58 | |||
| Label | Saddle Creek | |||
| Producer | Mike Mogis | |||
| Bright Eyes chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 70/100 (35 reviews) |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
| BBC | (mixed) |
| BLARE Magazine | |
| Consequence of Sound | |
| Drowned in Sound |   |
| NME | |
| One Thirty BPM | (70%) |
| Paste Magazine | (7.5/10) |
| Pitchfork Media | (5.0/10) |
| Popmatters | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin | |
| Sputnikmusic | |
| Tiny Mix Tapes | |
The People's Key is the eighth and final studio album by Bright Eyes, the Nebraska band of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott. The album was recorded in Omaha, NE at ARC Studios, produced by Mogis, and engineered by Mogis and Andy LeMaster. The album was released on February 15, 2011, Conor Oberst's birthday, on Saddle Creek Records. Before then, it was streaming online in its entirety as part of NPR's "First Listen" series.
The album features guest artists Andy LeMaster of Now It's Overhead, Matt Maginn of Cursive, Carla Azar of Autolux, Clark Baechle of The Faint, Shane Aspegren of The Berg Sans Nipple, Laura Burhenn of The Mynabirds, and Denny Brewer of Refried Ice Cream. The lyrics make mention of Haile Selassie, the Lion of Judah and I and I; all things associated with Rastafari.
According to designer Zack Nipper, the basic idea for the "wall of fire" design came from Conor Oberst, who wanted it to be "visually striking". The design was created using cut paper, similar to the cover for Every Day and Every Night, the first Bright Eyes release Nipper had worked on. Nipper stated that he "designed for vinyl first, then CD, and MP3 last, because that's the order in which viewing it matters."
The first 50,000 copies of this album came with a limited-edition packaging similar to that of all copies of the LP record, in a 6-panel tri-fold die-cut digipak printed on iridescent foil, and including an O-card, full-color CD inner sleeve and a 20-page booklet.
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